Recipes

Recipes are the crafting instructions of Project Zomboid. Each recipe turns a set of ingredients and tools into something new, from a Plank sawn from a Log to a forged sword, a sewn coat or a loaf of bread. Some recipes are known from the start, and many more must be learned. The crafting menu lists every recipe a survivor can see, sorted into groups such as Tailoring, Farming, Cooking and Blacksmithing.

All Crafting Categories

Crafting Menu

The game's guide explains where recipes are made. Some can be crafted almost anywhere from the inventory, with the right materials and tools. Some simple recipes run straight from the item's own menu. Others need a hard surface such as a table, a workstation or even a boulder. Stand beside one and open the crafting menu to see them. The most advanced recipes need a workstation such as a forge, a kiln or a loom.

Ingredients can sit in the inventory or in nearby containers. The crafting window lists the "Required Items" and marks anything missing. It also explains why a recipe will not start. The messages include "missing required item(s)", "recipe not learned", "requires surface", "too dark to craft" and "player is moving". The tooltip "Requires light." marks recipes that need a lit area.

Tools and Skills

Most recipes use tools that are kept. A saw stays in the inventory after Saw Log, and a Hammer stays after building a crate. Kept tools can still lose a little condition with each use, so carry spares for long jobs.

Many recipes need a skill level. Make Box Trap needs Carpentry 1 and Trapping 2. Forge Steel Sheet needs Blacksmithing 4. Carve Bone Fishing Hook needs Carving 5. Recipes also award experience in their skill, so crafting is a steady way to level up. Saw Log awards Carpentry experience, and Carve Plank awards Carving experience.

Learning

The guide lists the main ways to learn a recipe. Magazines, VHS tapes and some other special items teach recipes, and levelling up a skill sometimes unlocks new ones. Some TV shows also teach recipes.

Occupations and traits bring recipes from the start. The Electrician knows the makeshift radios and the generator. The Mechanic knows every mechanics set. The Farmer knows every growing season. The Hunter trait knows the trap recipes.

Items can be researched. An item with the tooltip "Can Research Craft Recipe" offers a Research option. Researching a Flashlight, for example, can teach Make Improvised Flashlight. Researching a store radio can teach the makeshift radio recipes.

Skill levels teach some recipes on their own. Many forged armour recipes are learned automatically at a set Blacksmithing level. Electrical 3 teaches the Generator recipe, and Agriculture 10 teaches every growing season. The Inventive trait "Has lower skill level requirements to research recipes from items or auto learn recipes."

Groups

Tailoring holds the largest group. It covers sewing clothes, bags and armour, knitting, ripping cloth and repairing gear. Farming covers seeds, crop processing, flax and hemp, and animal products. Cooking covers dough, dishes and drinks. Blacksmithing and Metalworking cover forging, smelting, casting and cutting metal.

Carpentry and Furniture cover wooden builds. Carving makes handles, wooden utensils, bats, buckets and bone tools. Pottery makes clay items for the kiln, and Glassmaking makes bottles, jars, panes and lantern glass. Knapping makes stone blades and tool heads. Masonry covers stone and brick.

Weaponry covers crafted and upgraded weapons. Electrical covers gadgets, radios, timers and bombs such as the Pipe Bomb. Packing covers boxing and unboxing items such as nails, screws, batteries and books. Repair, Medical, Fishing and Outdoors round out the list.

Examples

Saw Log turns one Log into 3 Plank with any saw. Burn Wood into Charcoal turns 2 Log into 12 Wood Charcoal at a Charcoal Burning Barrel or Pile. Make Coke turns charcoal into Coke at a Dome Kiln.

Make Fishing Rod turns a Wooden Rod, Fishing Line and a hook into a Makeshift Fishing Rod. Make Bowl of Brain Tan mixes an animal brain with water in a bowl. Tan Leather then turns a hide into wet leather.

Craft Twine makes Twine from Flax Tow, Hemp Dogbane or scutched hemp. Spin Thread From Wool needs a Spinning Wheel. Make Molotov Cocktail fills a glass bottle with Rubbing Alcohol, Gasoline or strong liquor and adds a Rag.

Variable Results

Some recipes give a range of results. Dry Flax and Dry Tobacco each take 1 to 20 items at once on a drying rack. Packing recipes such as Pack Items in Box and Open Box of Fishing Hooks move items between boxed and loose forms.

A few recipes work in reverse. Tie Sheet Rope and Untie Sheet Rope turn a Sheet into rope and back. Light Candle and Extinguish Candle switch a candle on and off. Open Umbrella and Close Umbrella do the same for an umbrella.

Notes

• Kept tools appear in a recipe's ingredient list marked as kept.
• The full recipe list, grouped by category, follows below.
• The crafting window flags any unlearned recipe until a magazine, a trait or research teaches it.

All Recipes